Louis D. Coppola

Louis Coppola is Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of Governance & Accountability Institute (G&A).

Louis’ work at G&A focuses primarily on providing advice to corporate and investor clients related to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and sustainability strategy, disclosure (reporting), investment and performance. 

Louis is frequently called on by the media, academics, and industry to contribute to articles, speak on panels, and present his ideas on ESG and sustainability related topics. 

Louis directed the Institute’s data partner relationship with GRI, where he and his team tracked Sustainability Reporting practices in the US, UK and Ireland starting in 2011, until GRI ended the program in 2020.  Today, he continues this important work inside G&A analyzing all sustainability reports in the USA and coordinates G&A’s various public research papers such as the highly referenced “G&A Trends Report” -- the annual examination of sustainability disclosure and external assurance practices of the S&P 500 and the Russel 1000 companies since 2010.

Starting in 2014, Louis served as the Chair of the Social Investment Forum’s (SIF) - Company Calls Committee (CCC) which served as an important resource for publicly traded companies by providing a platform for engagement with the small (at the time) but growing sustainable investment analyst community. 

He also played the role as an active steering member of the New York Society of Securities Analyst (CFA Society of NY - NYSSA), Sustainable Investing Committee and helped to organize the first integration of ESG into the CFA’s educational programming.  In addition, Louis worked with early pioneers in ESG to help develop many of the first ESG ratings methodologies of which aspects have been rolled into the leading ESG investor data providers and rankers that serve the investment community today.

Louis contributed to the U.S. section of “Carrots & Sticks III”, a collaborative publication with GRI, KPMG, UNEP, Centre for Corporate Governance in Africa and various other stakeholders and continues to play a role in helping to keep up with rapidly changing and expanding policies and regulations in the space. 

He is a proud recipient of the “Top Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business” recognition from the Trust Across America / Trust Around the World organization. Louis has served as an adjunct professor at the Bard M.B.A in Sustainability NYC campus teaching courses on business pragmatics of sustainability focusing on disclosure standards and analysis of sustainability reports. 

Louis served on the Board of Directors for The Global Sourcing Council, a global non-profit that was focused on educating and inspiring sustainability in sourcing and supply chains where he led many engagements at the United Nations.

Louis is an expert at translating concepts related to current and emerging technology to readily accessible tools and resources. He plays the lead role in the research, recommendation, and deployment of all technology including interactive Web platforms, content management systems, e-distribution, automated intelligence gathering, and other solutions to meet the “command and control” needs at G&A. 

Prior to forming G&A, Louis worked as an Account Executive for Rowan & Blewitt, a global crisis management and issues management consulting firm that was under the corporate umbrella of Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG). The firm’s clients were Fortune 100 and multinational companies. Louis was responsible for managing the technological implementation of the crisis and issues management strategies for Rowan & Blewitt and IPG.

Louis Coppola graduated with Honors from Molloy College with a master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA). In recognition of high scholastic achievement, he was selected for membership in Sigma Beta Delta, an international honor society in Business, Management, and Administration. He received his undergraduate BS degree with Major in Computer Information Systems and Minor in Computer Science. Lou has qualified and is an active member of Mensa.